PODs Share Their Experiences with Packaging

“I work in TV development at a major production company (POD). We’ve been deeply affected by packages, and we have some very clear examples of how they not only hurt our business, but also that of writers. As outlined below, here are some scenarios we’ve experienced:

• On multiple occasions, we’ve had projects where all the creative deal points were closed—including writer, IP, director and talent. But the deals would be held up for weeks, and in some cases, months, because our agency—one of the Big Four—would refuse to close unless they received the lion’s share of the package, even if they did nothing to put the project together. Big agencies essentially hold us and other (usually smaller) agencies hostage. In one instance, a smaller agency brought us a project with the writer, IP, and talent attached. We sold the project to a network, and our agency knew nothing about it until we asked them to make the deal. They refused to close the deal until the smaller agency agreed to give them the majority of the package. As time went on, the buyer got tired of the agency standoff. They started losing interest in the project and said they’d pull the deal if the agencies didn’t come to terms immediately. It took us threatening to leave our agency to get the deal closed. I have friends at other PODs who regularly experienced this exact same behavior, so it’s not exclusive to an individual Big Four agency. Strangely, the Big Four agencies almost always claim they have ‘precedent’ to take the majority share of packages when a smaller agency is involved. It’s a very odd precedent. In what other industry could you have no knowledge of a sale, but then refuse to close your client’s deal unless you get the lion’s share of the proceeds?
• Another big issue is that—because of packaging—many agencies don’t present projects from competing agencies to their writers in the first place. Despite it being their fiduciary duty, this is very common behavior, and the agency will tell the competing agency’s production company one of two things:
  1. ‘Sorry, we just can’t service you.’—This is a statement we received from a Big Four agency that competes with our Big Four agency. The reason for their refusal to service us? If they give their in-demand writer to a competitively-repped pod, that pod’s agency will demand a ½ package. So instead of servicing all incoming calls seeking out their clients, agents instead push their clients to work with PODs within their own agency. Why? Because that guarantees the agency will get a full package
  2. ‘Writer X read it, but unfortunately didn’t respond.’ —This would be an appropriate response…if it were true. On numerous occasions, we’ve received ‘passes’ from writers who are repped by a competing agency, only to run into the writer months later and discover the agent never passed the material along. The writer had absolutely no knowledge that a project was submitted to them. Much like in point one above, agencies are doing this because it makes more financial sense to pair their writers with internally-repped PODs, as it guarantees a full package. But the true outcome is that writers lose out on big projects because agents are acting in their own best interests.
• If and when this dispute resolves, there needs to be a ‘check and balance’ put in place where writers have access to a system that allows them to review every project that was sent to their reps for the writer to consider. It can be a simple online exchange, much like the WGA is using for staffing submissions. In a world of packaging, full transparency is the only way to ensure agents are acting on their client’s behalf and not on the agency’s.
• There is no better proof that the agencies have been acting on their own behalf than the repercussions of the ATA-WGA dispute. With agencies out of the picture, I have been reaching out to writers directly, something I could never previously have done without getting threatened by an agent. In a very short period of time, I put together meetings and projects with writers who were impossible to connect with in the past. Almost every writer I’ve contacted has responded to my inquiries and liked the idea of working with a meaningful pod. Many of these writers were surprised to hear that I’d reached out about them before, but their agents failed to tell them.”